 It is now time for member statements, the member from Elgin Middlesex London. Thank you Speaker. Today I rise in legislature to question the government on the lack of funding for joint surgeries for my local orthopedic department at the St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital. Currently the orthopedic department in my writing is giving up OR times through the lack of funding from the Ministry of Health long-term care. It's very frustrating when OR times are available with an outstanding team of doctors, nurses and staff, support staff available to perform the work. Unfortunately they are unable to schedule any joint replacement surgeries for half of February and all of March due to a lack of funding from this government. The government here is hiding the fact that they are unable to provide adequate health care services due to a lack of funding and it can be directly linked to the mismanagement of our financial dollars in our province. Mr. Speaker, the current funding allows for 174 joint replacement surgeries a year. However, that is not enough. They would need funding to at least cover 220 replacement years during the fiscal year. What we're seeing here, we have an award-winning hospital in St. Thomas, Ontario. Winning awards for the wait times, however, they are being restricted on the number of joint replacements they can do. Why would you penalize a hospital when in fact they are exceeding expectations? Mr. Speaker, currently patients are waiting four or five months just for the surgery and due to this lack of funding is being pushed further down the road. Overtimes will continue to be canceled until the start of a new fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, I call upon the government to quit eroding our health care services, get your financial house in order and fund adequate health care services for my ride. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Member Stavins, the member from Windsor to come see me. Thank you, Speaker. I want to put you on the spot this afternoon and try not to be too embarrassed, but I wish to compliment and congratulate you on your annual award ceremony, the annual book award. Thank you, time. I'll be back earlier this week. It's been three years since you began promoting Ontario's nonfiction authors and this is proving to be a highlight of the legislative calendar. For those who don't know, 11 books were shortlisted this year, everything from a woman's history of Western Manitoulin to the tragic failure of Ipperwash to the history of the Black experience in Chatham Kent to the ashes of war, the fight for Upper Canada in 1814. Metals were awarded to all 11 authors who were shortlisted and the judging panel chose one book overall as deserving of the top prize and that was Paken and the Premier's Steve Paken's personal reflections on a half century of Ontario's leaders. It's published by Dunder and Press. Speaker, you also made sure that our young writers continue to be encouraged and rewarded for sharing their stories about this great province. This brings greater public awareness to their work and helps inspire them and makes their books more available to a wider audience. This year, the judges chose Giles Benoway for his Ceremonies for the Dead, which examines the haunting themes of intergenerational trauma, cyclical abuse and inherited grief published by Kegadon's Press. The books will be available for sale at the gift shop and the main floor in the legislature. It was a delightful evening, Speaker. As always, a very distinguished ceremony. Congratulations to all who were shortlisted and thank you, Speaker, for promoting Literacy the Arts and our publishing industry. You take all the time you want. The member from Cambridge. Thank you, Speaker. Today I rise to discuss the International Women's Day celebrations in Cambridge. On Saturday morning, more than 200 residents of Waterloo region gathered at the Vault Country Club in Cambridge to celebrate International Women's Day at a breakfast organized by the local chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women. Later in the day, a flash mob organized by the suroptimist International Cambridge gathered around Cambridge to march to Queen Square. Women, men and children came together holding ribbons and carrying signs in denunciation of sexual violence and in support of women everywhere. At the breakfast event, a speech was given by Megan Lamb, Director of Communications and Public Relations for the Cambridge YWCA. Megan spoke about the importance on focusing on underrepresentation of women in positions of leadership. In Ontario, we should be proud that we elected a record number of women to Queen's Park last year. Megan also spoke in support of the direction that our Premier has taken with the introduction of the It's Never Okay Action Plan to stop sexual violence and harassment. Megan said in reference to Premier Wynn's leadership on sexual violence and harassment, I have never been so proud to be an Ontario. We should all be proud of this groundbreaking initiative and we should take International Women's Day and every day to reflect upon how far we have come in forwarding women's rights and how far we will go. Thank you. Thank you. Sam, the member from Bruce Gray-Olen Sound. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I rise in the House today to recognize young students from my riding of Bruce Gray-Olen Sound whose group project to memorialize the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers was recently recognized by Ontario's Lieutenant Governor. This past Friday, students from Olensound Collegiate and Locational Institute in Olensound, along with students from Smith Falls District Collegiate Institute and Garth Webb Secondary School in Oakville, received the Lieutenant Governor's Unchero Heritage Award for Youth Achievement, group awards for their work on the Juneau Beach Project from the Honourable Elizabeth Bowdswell. The students researched the 371 Canadian servicemen who fell on June 6, 1944, D-Day, by using primary source documents including Library and Archives Canada, service files, war diaries and military histories. In some cases, the students made contact with surviving family members or regimental associations from across Canada to access photographs of the fallen servicemen. This information was uploaded into a lest we forget database and students at Smith Falls District Collegiate Institute create a phone app on which users could peruse details regarding D-Day and these fallen servicemen. Additionally, the Juneau Beach Centre in Hours-sur-Mer France used our students' research for a special memorial that had been placed on site. Tribute markers for each of the fallen soldiers were equipped with a QR code in the back. When swiped with a cell phone, details of the fallen servicemen would upload onto the user's phone. Juneau Beach Centre officials have reported that the special feature at the memorial has been very popular with local French citizens. The annual Lieutenant Governor's and Cheryl Heritage Awards recognize individuals and groups who have made outstanding contributions to conserving on Cheryl's heritage. Mr. Speaker, I invite the House to join me in expressing our congratulations on this important project to students Molly Bollie and Dylan Williams and teachers Dave Alexander and Ryan McMahon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Here are the members of this, the members from Nicobalt. Thank you, Speaker. Today, I would like to talk about levels of mental services. I meet with a lot of constituents who want services for their children with developmental handicap. Here's a typical encounter, Speaker. My constituent, Mrs. Lisa Godet, is the mother of two adult children who require developmental services. Mrs. Godet expected that her two young adult son would graduate from their local school and transition into a day program, far from it, Speaker. First, she had to get her son assessed by the developmental services, which she did before her son's 18th birthday. Then, she made her own inquiry into a maze of agency and services in order to seek appropriate services. Well, by the time her eldest turned 21 and graduated from high school, he still had to wait a full year at home before being accepted into a program. And her youngest son also had time to graduate, and he's presently sitting at home still waiting. Mrs. Godet has made endless calls trying to determine how much longer she must wait, but receives no answer. She wants to tour a day program, but she's not allowed. Her requests are simple, and I quote, I want transparency. How long do I have to wait? Have they forgotten about us? The basic questions from all those families are simple. Why are children not transitions from high school into adult day program? I talked to the minister for MCSS about this. She was kind, and she agreed to follow up. But time is of essence, Speaker. How much longer will those family have to wait? Thank you. Further member status, the member from the Etobicoke Lakeshore. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and it's a pleasure to rise this afternoon in the House to announce an upcoming event in my riding of Etobicoke Lakeshore, the March Break Free Family Skate. Mr. Speaker, the Family Skate event in my riding will be taking place on Thursday, March 19th from 2 PM to 4 PM. I'm very excited to be hosting this event at the Master Card Centre for Excellence. The building is the official practice facility of the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL hockey team, and their AAHL affiliate the Toronto Marlies. And I'm proud to call this facility a pillar for sports excellence in my riding. And it's a fantastic place to spend the afternoon skating. Mr. Speaker, this Free Family Skate event will give families in my riding an opportunity to stay active during the March Break. And after all, this is the perfect season for everybody to lace up some skates and perfect that triple axle that they've been working on all winter. I won't be doing any triple axels, though. I look forward to joining this afternoon skating with my community. And I invite everyone to join me in Etobicoke Lakeshore for the Free Family Skate on Thursday, March 19th. Thank you. Through the member statements, the member from Kitchener, Conest, Ogo. Yes, well, thank you, Speaker. It's been close to two years since the introduction of legislation to ensure prompt payment to contractors in Ontario who are forced to wait, sometimes four months or longer for work they've long since completed. Some two years later, they are still waiting. Speaker, where I come from when you do the work, you should get paid. I can tell you there are many in my area who feel the same. I have a stack of letters from my local contractors asking me why it hasn't been a priority for the government to finally ensure the fairness that prompt payment legislation would provide. I've heard from so many great contractors in my area, Doran Mechanical and the Grand Valley Construction Association, who represents many of them, all impacted by the lack of prompt payment legislation and all continuing to wait for government to finally move on legislation, it brought forth two years ago. Speaker, as GNA Masonary recently wrote me, they said the existing inequity, imperils, employment, and apprenticeship growth and inhibits the ability of small and medium-sized contractors to invest in machinery and equipment, as well as bid on additional work. That means fewer jobs and slower economic growth. Jurisdictions right across the world have gotten this right. 49 states and the federal government have prompt payment for publicly funded infrastructure projects. Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, the European Union as well. It's time for our province to follow suit. It's time to make this a priority. It's time for prompt payment in Ontario. Thank you, Speaker. Thank you for your comments. The member from Beaches East York. Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I'd like to speak about the Crescent Town Urban Agricultural Project. Now, many times you'll hear me speak as the PA to Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of the great agricultural riding of Beaches East York. And many of you may have read the last week in the Metro news about an exciting project, a fish farm we're creating in a little area called Crescent Town. Now, Crescent Town is a part of my riding. It was founded in 1887 when Walter Massey purchased a one kilometer square country property around Daws Road and Victoria Park Avenue. The Massey Farm sold fresh eggs and poultry as well as fresh trout that they got from the many streams and rivulets that beandered through the property. The Massey Farm, Mr. Speaker, was also the home of City Dairy Company, which produced the first pasteurized milk in Canada. Now, Crescent Town has now become a property of 10,000 people in five high rise buildings. And at the center of the property is a retail market about 10,000 square feet, which the management of the group have not yet been able to rent out. And I went there with a bunch of community leaders to look and see if we could energize that space to bring it back to a local retail operation. As it turned out, there are two floors underneath, Mr. Speaker, which lend themselves to urban agricultural. And so I'm working with a whole bunch of community leaders to see if we can grow fish and food in the basement of Crescent Town. And I'd like to thank Hasina Kadar and Dr. Reza of the Bangladeshi Center and Community Services and Lori Fairborn of Neighborhood Link for their excellent leadership in this regard and Mr. Tom McGee, who's been shepherding this project forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Further comments? The member from Etobicoke Center. Mr. Speaker, in November I was in Ukraine with constituents of Etobicoke Center when we met with soldiers who were wounded during the Russian-backed invasion of Ukraine. These fathers, brothers, and sons all said they were fighting for freedom and democracy, values that as Canadians we hold dear. I am proud of what our Premier has done to support the Ukrainian people. She called on our federal government to impose sanctions, called on international observers, and provided humanitarian aid. Today, Ukraine is at war and the situation is dire. Russian-backed forces have occupied part of Eastern Ukraine and continue to advance. The soldiers I met with, Mr. Speaker, are fighting state-of-the-art equipment with outdated weapons, some from World War II, Mr. Speaker. This conflict touches all of us. 14,000 civilians are dead. One million have been displaced. And the invasion is a global threat. It is a violation of international law and the international order that was achieved at such great cost after World War II. The West's words and sanctions have not worked. Efforts at peace have failed. For months, Ukraine's President has been asking for defensive weapons so that his nation stands a chance against the larger and more advanced Russian military. Others such as John McCain, John Boehner, and others have echoed this call. And the U.S. Congress has passed authorization for the U.S. to arm Ukraine. I urge our federal government to act on the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress's February 21st statement, which calls on Canada to do, and I quote, dramatically increase sectoral sanctions, increase the provision of communications and intelligence capabilities, and provide Ukraine with the defensive weapons, equipment and training it needs to defend its territorial integrity. This is important, Mr. Speaker, not only because the Ukrainian people stand little chance without our help, not only because there is a humanitarian crisis and civilians need our help, but because the war in Ukraine is a threat to Europe, to global security, to our security, and to the values that Canadians hold dear. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.